Post #219921 by ikitnrev on Fri, Mar 10, 2006 10:43 AM

Queen performed in DC last night, and overall, it was a very good show. Those of you who were thinking about buying tickets, but were a bit hesitant - my recommendation is to go ahead and buy tickets.

Paul Rodgers is not Freddie Mercury, but although he does not have the operatic vocal range of Freddie, he does still have a strong voice, which melds in well with the rest of the musicians. He also has a good stage presence, moving around, doing lots of smiling - you can tell that he is having a good time on stage, and that feeling is contagious. Although a few Bad Company and Free songs were played, I never got the feeling that Paul Rodgers was trying to be the flamboyant 'look at me' lead singer. When needed, he stepped back and allowed the other band members, and at certain places, the videos of Freddie Mercury, the limelight.

It was great to finally see Brian May and Roger Taylor, the two original Queen members on this tour, on stage. I felt that if there was an individual star for the concert, it was Brian May. He did several solos, one acoustic at the end of the catwalk ('34', 'Love of My life') and later a 10 minute long guitar solo (with echo delay effects) that was quite nice. Overall, the sound was great - very crisp and clear, and one could easily follow Brian's guitar licks. The friend I went with, who has seen many arena shows, said that this was perhaps the best guitar playing that she had ever seen live - an homage to both Brian May's guitar skills, and a clear sound system.

I always loved drummer Roger Taylor's voice, so it was a real thrill to hear him perform 'I'm In Love With My Car', and later come to the end of the catwalk to sing 'Dragon Attack', 'These Are the Days of Our Lives' (shown with very early 70's black&white Queen footage), and the first part of 'Radio Ga-Ga.' He has that raspy, Rod Stewart-like voice, and I was really impressed with his range and how well he sounded. He also did a drum solo, that was actually quite good and did not fall too much into the typical '70's rock show drum solo' category.

Along with the two original Queen members, and Paul Rodgers, were three other musicians - two guitarists, and a keyboardist, who did their job well.

My favorite songs of the night were the more obscure Queen songs - the above Roger Taylor songs, but also 'Days of Our Lives' and 'The Show Must Go On' If there was a moment when any Queen fan was finally warmed over to Paul Rodgers presence, it was during the song 'The Show Must Go On.' It was nice to finally be able to stand and do the 'Radio Ga Ga' hand clap thing, even if half the crowd seemed to be unaware of it and just stood there.

I felt that some momentum was lost whenever a Bad Company song was played, but it was never really a major downer - just an awareness that these were not songs written by or for Queen. It was hard to feel upset though - Paul Rodgers did such a credible job as lead singer, that it was more of a 'OK, you can perform your songs too' and they were at least decent 70's classic rock songs/riffs.

There were two glitches at the show. During the second song, 'Fat Bottomed Girls', the main speaker system failed, and what was left sounded like a muffled stage monitor system. This took the wind out of some of my initial enthusiasm, but the sound was back to normal within a few songs, and my enthusiasm soon followed. Later in the show, Brian May fell into an orchestral pit (a piano was rising onto stage) but he was unhurt, and continued on as if nothing happened. I don't think many of the audience even noticed this.

Overall, the stagecraft was good and fun to watch. There was nothing really overpowering - no major flames or excessive stage prop gimmicks. The overhead grid structures of stage lighting would raise up and down in slow pattern sequences, which I felt enhanced the show, without being too distractive. Two jumbo screens were on either end of the stage - the quality of these images/closeups was very good, so I can't imagine that too many people in the far reaches were disappointed.

The show was well paced, and there were some very nice moments. I was worried about what the show would be like, but I walked away afterward, quite impressed.

Vern